


Pupa

by Nathan_Lobodzinski



Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-15
Updated: 2020-04-15
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:01:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 20,157
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23665060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nathan_Lobodzinski/pseuds/Nathan_Lobodzinski
Summary: When a mysterious girl falls from the sky, 16-year-old Elias must do everything he can to get her back home.





	Pupa

The first thing she was aware of was light. A blinding, searing light, so bright that she was unable to see anything but white. She blinked, but the white didn't go away. She remembered the Elders saying something about disorientation at first, so she didn't think it would be a big deal. She felt like she should be changed, but she felt exactly the same. Before she could wonder why, she felt the sensation of falling…

**********

Elias loved his golden retriever to death, but there were some parts about her that he wished he could change. Namely, her tendency to take way too long to go to the bathroom.

He stood waiting impatiently in his backyard. The yard itself was nothing special: a tree in the middle, surrounded by a small patch of grass that was then surrounded by a 6-foot white fence.

"C'mon Molly, hurry up!" he said to her. It was cold out and he wanted to get back inside to watch his favorite TV show, _Last Mobius_ , which would start any second. And here he was, waiting for his dog to find _just_ the right spot to pee.

As he was getting ready to give up and just go inside, Molly started to bark incessantly.

"What's the matter, girl?" he asked, immediately on guard. He looked around but couldn't see anything out of the ordinary in his boring old neighborhood. He looked at Molly again and realized that she was barking at the sky. Puzzled, he looked up.

He saw a small shape falling at an increasingly high speed. As it drew nearer, he could make out some details. It was a little girl, maybe seven or eight years old, wearing a plain white dress. Her long brown hair waved in the wind as she fell. Panicked, Elias moved around, trying to figure out exactly where she would fall so he could catch her. He thought he had the right spot, but she landed a few feet away from him.

Hard.

**********

The girl slowly opened her eyes, getting up and taking in her surroundings. There was grass, some concrete structures that she couldn't immediately figure out the purpose of, and a weird looking animal and a crystalwing. But it didn't look like any crystalwing the girl had ever seen. For one, it had short, yellow hair. For another, it was completely flat chested, even though it looked to be the age at which all crystalwings developed curves on their chest. Plus its clothing was weird. It wasn't wearing a silkdress like all the other crystalwings. Instead it was wearing a thick coat of some sort and two long strips of fabric covering its legs.

"What...are you?" she asked hesitantly.

**********

Elias jumped back, surprised by the fact that the girl could speak. His mind was in a whirl. The girl had fallen, right from the sky!, and didn't even look bruised. A fall like that should've killed her, but she didn't have a scratch on her.

"My name is Elias," he said to her, watching to gauge her reaction.

"El-eye-es," the girl said, testing it out. "What's an el-eye-es?"

"What, no, that's just my name. I'm a human...aren't you one too?"

"Hue-man," the girl tried. "What's a hue-man? Is it anything like a crystalwing?"

"Crystalwing? What the hell is that?" Elias said, more confused than ever.

At this, the girl jumped back, her green eyes widening. "You're from Hell?!" she exclaimed, watching Elias nervously.

"What? No, I'm from here, the boring old town of Plantation Springs."

The girl wrinkled her nose and said "You say a lot of words that don't make sense."

"Heh, I could say the same thing about you," Elias chuckled. "Where are you from anyways, kid?"

"I'm from Crysteria," said the girl cautiously. "Who are you that you could have never heard of crystalwings or Crysteria?"

"I'm beginning to think that you're not from Earth…," Elias said softly, half joking.

"What is this 'Earth' that you speak of?"

"It's this planet," Elias said, truly flummoxed now. "You mean to tell me that you're not even from Earth? What planet are you from then, Mars?"

"I'm from Chromatica, of course. Don't these give that away?"

At that, she unfurled a pair of brilliant blue wings, reminiscent of a butterfly's.

Now it was Elias's turn for wide eyes. "Ok you're definitely not human, and you're definitely not from Earth. What's the last thing you remember?"

The girl thought about it for a second. "I remember going into my cocoon. The Elders said that it would take a few days for my metamorphosis, and then I'd have my wings. I'm glad that at least _that_ part went right…"

"Huh," said Elias, still trying to process everything. "What's your name, kid?"

The girl had to think longer this time. "Oooh, I remember this, I remember this…," she said, deep in thought. "It was...it was...pue...pue...PUPA!! That's my name, Pupa!"

She pumped the air with her fist triumphantly. At this point Elias was more than a little concerned for the mysterious girl.

"Alright Pupa, how about you go inside and we can figure out what to do with you," he said.

"Inside? I just got out of my cocoon. Why would I want to go into another one?"

"No, I mean inside my house," Elias said, confused. "My mom will take care of you. Just, uh, maybe hide those from her," at this, he pointed to her wings. "No reason to scare her more than she already will be."

"I can't hide these," Pupa said, proudly looking at her new wings.

Elias took off his jacket and dumped it unceremoniously over Pupa's wings. "Not an option, kid. Let's go."

They walked together with Molly towards the house, unaware that another being was watching them from the shadows.

**********

Pupa stared at her surroundings in awe. This place was nothing like Crysteria! It was more closed in, and dark, and there were tiny little suns hanging from each room. Oh! And there was a big black slate against a wall.

"You look like you've never seen a house before," said the human, _Elias_ , with a wry grin.

"I haven't," said Pupa in a dreamy voice. "I don't know what any of this stuff is."

"Well try not to let it show when I explain you to my mom," he said.

Pupa wrinkled her nose again and said "What IS a mom, anyways?"

At this Elias got a funny expression in his eyes. If she didn't know any better, she'd call it pity. But no one pitied the great Pupa! Or soon to be great anyways.

"You never had a mom, huh," Elias said softly. "Who raised you then?"

"I was raised by the Elders of course! They raise all the larvae until we're ready to cocoon."

Another expression passed on Elias's face. Maybe it could've been relief? Pupa wasn't too good with figuring others out, never had been.

"A mom is a woman that you were born from. She takes care of you until you're old enough to leave the house."

"Elias, who are you talking to down there?" a voice said from above a staircase.

"Found another stray, mom!" Elias called back with a grin.

"What's a-," Pupa started, but Elias shushed her.

"Another one? You know that Molly is the only one that you were allowed to keep. That was the deal!" said the voice.

"You might want to see this one for yourself, mom!" Elias called back, that stupid grin still on his face. Pupa scowled.

She heard a thumping coming from the staircase. When she saw what was coming down, a stupid grin came upon her own face.

"Another crystalwing!" she squealed in excitement. "I'm so happy to see you! I thought that I was never going to see one-"

She broke off, realizing too late that while the figure before her looked like a crystalwing, it didn't have the wings that were their namesake.

"Honey, where did you find this poor thing?" the not-crystalwing said, looking concerned.

"Found her just laying at the front of the house, looking confused," replied Elias, almost too fast.

Pupa opened her mouth to correct him, but before she could he glanced at her and slightly shook his head. She stayed silent, still embarrassed by her slip up with the other human, for she realized now that that was what it must have been.

"You poor child, let's get you freshened up and we can see if we can find your parents," the other human said in a softer voice.

She moved to take off Pupa's jacket. Pupa looked up at Elias and saw his eyes widen a fraction. Pupa shook her head and pulled the jacket closer on to her, sure that Elias wouldn't want the other human to see her wings.

"Hmmmm, ok, I'll start calling neighbors and see if they're missing a daughter. Elias, you go help her freshen up," said the other human.

"Ok mom," he said to her. Ah, so that's the 'mom' creature that he had been talking about! To Pupa, he said "C'mon kid, let's go upstairs," and led her towards them.

**********

When they got upstairs, Elias turned to Pupa and said "Thanks for taking my cues, kid."

Pupa scowled and said "Why do you have to call me 'kid' anyways? I already went through my metamorphosis; I'm an adult now."

Elias grinned and thought to himself, _not by human standards you aren't_. "How old are you anyways, eight?"

She recoiled in mock shock. "Eight?!" she exclaimed. I'm not ready to grow curves just yet! I'm two!"

Elias chuckled and said "I don't know about this Chromatica world you're from, but on this planet, two is barely old enough to walk and talk."

Pupa stuck out her tongue at him and replied "Oh yeah? And how old are you, 20?"

"I'm 16 actually," Elias said, smiling at her reaction.

Setting her voice deeper, Pupa mimicked Elias, saying "I don't know about this Earth world you're from, but on my planet, 16 is old enough to be an Elder."

They both collapsed into a fit of laughter.

"What on earth are you doing up there?!" called Elias's mom from downstairs. I told you to clean the girl up, Elias, not play dolls with her!"

At this, Pupa started giggling again. Her giggles grew with the glare that Elias sent her way.

"Alright smartass, let's get you in the bath," he said to her, pretending to be angry.

"What's...what's...what's a...bath?" asked Pupa, still laughing.

Elias grinned. "You don't know what a bath is? No wonder you're so dirty."

Pupa frowned. She looked at herself and said "I'm not that dirty, am I?"

"No, just a little bit here and there," Elias said a little apologetically. He could tell that he had hit a sore spot and regretted it. "A bath is what we humans use to clean ourselves. You take off all your clothes and wash yourself with soap and water."

Pupa recoiled. "Take off your clothes?! The Elders said never to remove your silkdress!"

Seeing her distress, Elias changed track. "Ok, keep the dress on. I'll just scrub you in the, erhem, surrounding areas."

At this point, they had reached the bathroom. "Scrub?" Pupa managed to get out before Elias took off the jacket and attacked her with soap and water.

"Stop, stop! It tickles!" Pupa cried as Elias relentlessly scoured every bit of dirt off her. When he was done she looked a lot cleaner.

"If you don't bathe, then what do you even do to clean yourself?" Elias asked.

"The Elders groom us of course," Pupa replied haughtily, trying to get back some of her dignity.

"Of course," Elias said, slapping his forehead. "Next you're going to tell me that you hatched from an egg"

"You mean you didn't?" Pupa shot back.

"No, I was born straight from my mom," replied Elias. Seeing her questioning look, he said, "Nevermind, it's not important."

Just then the pair heard footsteps coming up the stairs. Elias quickly put the jacket back onto Pupa before his mom came into the bathroom.

"You're looking fresh and clean," she said to Pupa. To Elias, she said "I called all the neighbors, and all their kids are accounted for. It's getting dark out, so I think this little one"-at this Pupa scowled-"is staying the night. She can sleep in the guestroom."

"I'll show her in," said Elias, guiding Pupa out of the bathroom before she could ask a question that would make his mom suspicious.

As they headed for the guestroom, Elias's mom called out "What's the girl's name anyways?"

Thinking quickly, Elias called back "Uh...Patricia!"

"Well make sure to make Patricia feel welcome!" his mom replied.

"Of course!" Elias called back as they went out of earshot.

The second they came out of earshot, Pupa barraged Elias: "What's a guestroom? What's a neighbor? Why did you give your mom a fake name for me? My name's Pupa, not Patricia!"

Elias answered each question evenly: "A guestroom is a room where a guest (that's you by the way) can sleep when they have to stay the night at another person's house, a neighbor is a person that lives in a house near yours, and I told my mom that your name was Patricia because 'Pupa' isn't exactly a human name, and I didn't want her to get suspicious."

"Why do you care if she gets suspicious anyways? Don't you trust her?" asked Pupa.

"I do for the most part, but my mom really trusts the government, which are the people in charge of this part of the world," Elias replied. "If she knew about your wings and the fact that you're not from Earth, she'd probably turn you into the government."

"You make it sound like a bad thing," said Pupa nervously.

"I don't want to scare you," Elias started, seeing Pupa's trademark scowl, "but they would experiment on you in ways that would probably be very painful."

"But why would anyone do something like that?" asked Pupa, her big green eyes turned in Elias's direction.

"No one else here on Earth has wings. They would want to figure out how to give people wings, even if it killed you," Elias said frankly.

Tears pooled in Pupa's eyes. _Dammit Elias, you made her cry!_ he thought to himself.

"Alright Pupa, I think it's time for you to get some sleep. You _do_ sleep, right?" he said, half teasing.

"Of course I sleep! But...crystalwings never sleep alone. Can I sleep with you tonight?"

Seeing the scared look in her eyes, Elias relented. "Fine, you can bunk in my room tonight."

Elias turned to go to his room. Pupa looked after him, confused. "Aren't we sleeping in the guest room?"

He turned back to her and said "No that's where the guests sleep. I have my own room."

The two headed to Elias's room. When Pupa saw through the open door, she gasped.

"It's so pretty!" she exclaimed. "Look at all the decorations!"

Elias looked around his room, a place he had been a thousand times. He glanced at the _Last Mobius_ posters, his closet, his nightstand. There were a lot of words one could use to describe his room, but 'pretty' was not one of them.

Pupa jumped onto the bed excitedly. "It's so fluffy! What's it for?"

"It's called a bed, Pupa," Elias said tiredly. "That's where I normally go to sleep"

"Can I sleep in it? Pleeeeeaaaaaase?" begged Pupa.

"Yeah, sure, I'll sleep on the floor I guess," Elias said right before letting out a yawn. "How are you not tired?"

"There's just so many new things to see!" replied Pupa happily. "I don't know why _you_ aren't so excited!"

"Pupa, I've seen this stuff a thousand times," said Elias sleepily. "You can fawn over my stuff tomorrow. Time to go to sleep."

Pupa yawned unintentionally, then frowned at herself for yawning. "Fine," she said, getting into Elias's bed, "but you're explaining all this tomorrow!"

But Elias didn't hear her. He was already out like a light on the floor beside her.

**********

Pupa woke up in the middle of the night feeling strange. She had never left Crysteria before today (or was it yesterday?). She remembered nights when she was scared of a storm or the sounds of an atirat invasion that she would curl up next to an Elder.

She glanced at Elias, sound asleep on the floor. _He wouldn't mind, would he_? She decided to deal with the consequences tomorrow (or later today). She got out of bed, laid next to him, and promptly fell back asleep.

**********

Elias woke with a pain in his back. _Must've been from sleeping on the floor all night_. He was about to get up, hoping it would make him feel better, when he noticed Pupa curled up behind him, her wings outstretched to cover them both.

He debated on whether to let her sleep. But the sun was coming through the window, and he knew they both had to get up so they could figure out how to get Pupa back home.

He slowly got up and shook Pupa gently. "Pupa, wake up," he said softly.

She opened her eyes slowly and looked around. When she saw that she was laying right next to Elias, she jumped up. "I wasn't scared, I promise!" she said defiantly.

Elias grinned. "No one said anything about being scared."

Embarrassed, Pupa changed the subject: "What do we do now?"

Elias had thought yesterday before he had gone to bed. "We're gonna go to the library and see if we can find any information on how to get you back to your own world," he said.

Predictably, Pupa asked "What's a library?"

"It's a place with a lot of books and information about everything there is to know."

"Even Chromatica?"

"Well that's what we're going to find out today."

Elias dumped the jacket onto Pupa to hide her wings, and the pair left his room and headed downstairs. He saw his mom on a business call, so he scrawled out a note on how they were going to the library to try to figure out where Pupa lived. It was _technically_ true, wasn't it?

As they left the house, Pupa asked "How long does it take to get to this 'library'? And how are we gonna get there?"

“I figured we’d take the car,” said Elias as he punched in the garage code. The garage door opened up, startling Pupa, and revealed a boring black car.

Pupa looked at the car skeptically. “How is this thing supposed to take us _anywhere_?”

Elias smiled. “You’ll see,” he said, winking at her. “C’mon, climb in.”

He opened up the passenger seat door. Hesitantly, Pupa climbed into the car and sat down.

“It’s still not moving,” she whined.

“It doesn’t move by itself, you know,” said Elias. “It needs someone to drive it, who of course, is me.”

With that, he climbed into the driver’s seat and started the engine. The car rumbled.

“Ah!” cried Pupa. “It’s alive!”

Elias laughed. “Don’t worry, it’s just a machine. It only moves when we tell it to. Like this,” he said as he shifted into drive and drove the car out into the driveway.

Pupa squeaked in surprise but didn’t say anything.

The drive to the library only took 20 minutes and was relatively uneventful. Pupa kept her wings furled underneath the jacket with no complaints. Elias could tell that it made her uncomfortable but didn’t know what else to do.

The library was almost empty, since it was a Sunday and everyone in the small town of Plantation Springs was at church.

Its emptiness only made it look bigger. Books lined the shelves from bottom to top, and even though it was a small library, Elias almost felt overwhelmed.

Elias and Pupa immediately got to work looking for anything that could have anything to do with Chromatica. They were searching the fiction section (Elias had a feeling that the world that Pupa had described wouldn't show up in the nonfiction section) when they heard a voice behind them.

“Anything I can help you find?” said the voice. It was the old librarian that worked here. Grey hair, lots of wrinkles, and a creepy look in his eyes. Honestly, Elias was surprised that he was still alive. The old coot had to be bordering 80 at least.

“No, we’re fine, thanks for asking though,” said Elias cautiously. But the librarian wasn’t listening to Elias. He was staring very intently at Pupa.

“Is...is everything ok?” Pupa asked nervously.

Without further comment, the librarian reached for Pupa and yanked her jacket off, exposing her radiant wings.

**********

“As I suspected!” crowed the creepy old man as he pulled the jacket straight off of Pupa’s shoulders. Pupa was too surprised to react immediately. Luckily for her, Elias wasn’t.

“What the hell was that for?!” he shouted.

“I never thought I’d see another one in my lifetime,” said the old man softly, staring intently at Pupa. “Another crystalwing...you’re in luck.”

“Why’s that?” asked Elias suspiciously.

“Because I can get her to where she belongs,” replied the old man, acknowledging Elias for the first time.

“Back to Crysteria?” asked Pupa excitedly. She knew she should be _cold_ and _calculated_ like Elias was being, but she couldn’t help herself. She missed her home dearly.

“Back to your world, yes little one,” said the old man. “Come, follow me.”

With that, the old man went to a door on the other side of the library and opened it. Pupa practically ran through, Elias following more slowly.

Beyond the door, a long, dark, staircase descended into the ground. Or at least into what could be considered the ground in Florida. The old man motioned for them to follow, and Pupa moved to do so, but was held back by Elias.

“You have to be more careful,” he whispered into her ear. “You have no idea if we can trust him.”

“He knows about Chromatica,” Pupa whispered back. “That’s good enough for me!”

With that, she ran ahead to catch up to the old man, knowing instinctively that Elias was right behind her.

**********

Elias didn’t like the whole situation. He had been to the library maybe twice before. And both times, the librarian had always given him a weird look. Regardless, he felt that he had a responsibility to Pupa, so he followed her down the staircase.

They reached the bottom a few seconds later. The staircase opened into a small room, empty except for a circle drawn in the center and a desk with a small stone on it. The stone was mostly flat and had a swirl inscribed onto it.

“A Wellfar Stone!” exclaimed Pupa. “Why is it here?”

“Wait what’s a Wellfar Stone?” asked Elias.

“It lets you teleport to any of the Six Kingdoms,” explained Pupa. “But I don’t know if it’ll work here, on Earth…”

“Oh it’ll work alright,” said the librarian. “I’ve used it before.”

“Then what are we waiting for?” said Pupa happily. “Let’s go! C’mon Elias!”

Elias felt a pang. “I’m sorry Pupa,” he said. “I can’t go with you.”

Pupa frowned. “But why not?”

“I already have a life here, a home here. You have to get back to your home, but mine is already here.”

Pupa was quiet for a moment, then said, “It’s ok. I understand. But...I’ll miss you.”

“I’ll miss you too, Pupa,” replied Elias sadly.

“Don’t you two worry, you’ll be seeing a _lot_ more of each other,” said the librarian menacingly.

Elias turned to look at him. “What makes you say that?”

“This does!” cried the librarian, pushing Elias and Pupa into the circle. They fell hard, and before either of them could move, the librarian grabbed the stone and pointed it at them.

“Burn in Hell,” he snarled as a white light enveloped them both.

**********

When the light faded, Pupa looked around. She recognized where they were immediately. Her stomach sank.

“Did we just die?” asked Elias, looking around.

“Well good news bad news,” replied Pupa. “Good news is that we’re in Chromatica now. Bad news is that we’re in Hell.”

“Dammit!” said Elias. “Why did that librarian want to kill us anyways?”

“Kill us?” said Pupa, confused. “We’re not dead. This is Hell, one of the Six Kingdoms.”

Elias looked around at the bright orange lava that surrounded them, broken up only by small outcroppings of rock like the one they were standing on. The lava boiled and seemed to threaten to spurt up every few seconds. “I see why they call it Hell. Any way to get out of here?”

“Each Kingdom has a palace, where the god of that kingdom resides,” Pupa recited. She remembered this from the Elder’s teachings. Ha, now Elias was the dumb one! “There’s just one problem with this Kingdom…”

“Besides the fact that it looks like the place where you pay for your sins?” Elias asked wryly.

“They eat crystalwings. We’re a...what do you call it...a deli...dela…”

“A delicacy?!” finished Elias with horror.

“That’s the word! So we have to get to the god without any of the atirats noticing,” said Pupa matter-of-factly. She put on a tough act, but the truth was that she was scared. She had never left Crysteria before, and while she knew of the other Kingdoms from what the Elders had told her, it still frightened her that she was experiencing them first hand.

“So what _is_ an atirat anyways?” asked Elias.

“An atirat is a native of Hell,” replied Pupa. “They look like you except they’re red and have horns and a spiked tail.”

“That sounds a lot like a demon,” said Elias warily. “So how are we gonna get to this temple anyways? And how are we to know that the god there won’t eat us?”

“Well he won’t eat _you_ ,” said Pupa. “And I don’t think he would eat me either. The Elders told me that this particular god is more interested in...other stuff.”

“Like what?”

“The Elders wouldn’t say, but they giggled when I asked.”

Elias made a face and said “I think I know _exactly_ what they were talking about.”

“What was it, what was it?” demanded Pupa.

“The Elders would probably be _very_ upset with me if I told you,” said Elias with a grin.

How Pupa hated that grin. Before she could get back at him, they heard shouting in the distance. From how the Elders had described it, it sounded like a gang on atirats are fast approaching.

“Quick!” shouted Elias. “Put on the jacket before they see you!”

He fumbled around for the jacket before he realized what Pupa already had: it was left at the library when the old man had taken it off.

“Damn!” he muttered. “I hope that librarian get buried in books and suffocates!”

Pupa giggled at the thought, then instantly sobered up as the gang of atirats came into view.

She furled her wings as close as she could to her back, but there was still a little bit of them visible. She stepped behind Elias so that the rest of her wings were blocked, and got ready to face the horde.

**********

The gang of atirats was getting closer and closer by the minute. Elias had honestly been planning on letting Pupa handle it; after all, she was more familiar with Chromatica than he was. But then she hid behind him, and he knew he had to deal with them himself.

Unfortunately, he had no weapon, and even if he did, he had no idea how to fight. Life in a small town didn't exactly teach you those things.

That left only one option: diplomacy. He gulped as the atirats leaped from cliff to cliff, having spotted Elias and Pupa at this point.

Finally, they arrived to Elias and Pupa's cliff. They stared, puzzled. One of them broke through the gaggle and said, "I can see the crystalwing from a mile away, but what in Hell are you supposed to be?"

Elias could've asked the same of him. He looked _kind of_ like a demon, but his skin was a pale shade of red than he expected, and their tale had a barb on it instead of the arrow that he was expecting.

Elias figured the best way to go was with the truth, at least to begin with. "I am not of this world. I need to speak with your god. However, the crystalwing is under my protection and cannot be harmed under any circumstances."

The leading atirat sneered. "And what makes you think that Borneabelze will want to even _speak_ to you?"

At this, Elias smiled. The atirat had fallen straight into his trap. "I have a...proposition to make with him. One that he won't want to miss out on."

The atirat looked at him, thought for a moment, and said "I dunno if you're telling the truth, but just in case you are I'll take you to the boss...for a small fee of course."

"Name your price," said Elias calmly. Or at least he hoped it was calmly. These demons could kill him and Pupa and there would be nothing he could do to stop it.

The atirat smiled maliciously and pointed to Pupa.

"Absolutely not. She is nonnegotiable," said Elias stubbornly.

"I had a feeling you would say that," said the atirat disappointedly. "But hey, it was worth a shot, right boys?" He turned to the atirats behind him and they all grinned evilly. "Alrighty then, let's get you two to the boss."

At this, he picked up Pupa and another atirat behind him picked up Elias, and they bounded away.

**********

Pupa was almost shaking in fear at this point. When the atirats had come she figured Elias could get them to go away. Then they realized that she was a crystalwing and she feared the end. But then Elias managed to talk them into taking them straight to Borneabelze. Now she was somehow being _carried_ by an _atirat_!

As they traveled from cliff to cliff, Elias whispered to Pupa "Is there anything important that I need to know about this god before I meet him?"

Pupa whispered back "I remember the Elders telling me that he really likes to gamble. I'm not sure what that is, but I remember it clearly for some reason."

"Gambling, huh," replied Elias. "I think I've got a plan. Follow my lead, ok?"

Pupa could figure out that 'follow my lead' meant 'back up my lies'. "I'll try my best"

"We have arrived!" called out the lead atirat. And indeed they had. Before them stood a marvelous palace, made entirely of some sort of black rock. A dome covered the main area but there were other parts of the castle that simply ended in a point that seemed to pierce through the sky.

"Looks like a burnt out Taj Mahal," muttered Elias.

Instead of asking what that was, Pupa chose to remain silent. They had more important things to worry about.

The atirat gang escorted them through the palace, past guards that looked at Pupa hungrily. She shuddered, looking towards Elias for reassurance. He caught her look, and grinned at her. "We'll get through this, trust me," he mouthed to her.

She nodded back, trying to look more brave than she felt.

Eventually they entered a throne room, where the god awaited. He looked very different from the atirats. He was red like them, but that was where the similarities ended. He stood on four legs rather than two, had scales all over his body, and had a long snout with pointed teeth jutting out of it. And those wings! Great, leathery things. Pupa looked back at her own wings self consciously. At least _hers_ were _prettier_!

"A dragon," breathed Elias, looking stunned.

"A human," replied Borneabelze, looking about as surprised as Elias. "I haven't seen one of your kind in a long, long time." To the atirats, he said "Leave us!"

The atirats obeyed their god, leaving so that it was just the three of them in the room. Pupa swallowed nervously. Borneabelze didn't _look_ hungry, but you never knew when it came to Hell.

He chuckled. "The last time a human was here, it nearly destroyed this world."

"I don't plan on doing the same, believe me," said Elias cautiously. "I'm just here to get Pupa back to her home and then figure out a way to get home myself."

Oops. Pupa had been so focused on getting back to Crysteria that she hadn't even realized that Elias _also_ had to get back home.

"Well, I do love a gamble," Borneabelze said, his eyes narrowing. "Here's my offer: grab a jewel from over there"-at this he pointed to a small pedestal with seven gems on them-"and if you can pass any one of their tests, I will let you and the crystalwing use my Wellfar Stone."

"And if he fails?" asked Pupa, speaking up for the first time.

"Well, little crystalwing," said Borneabelze slyly. "If he fails, then I eat you and torture the human until I find its weak spot, then I'll eat him too."

"And if I refuse to participate?" asked Elias.

"If you refuse, then it will be treated as a failure," said Borneabelze impassively.

"Doesn't seem like much of a choice," muttered Pupa.

"What do each of the gems test?" asked Elias warily.

"Let it not be said that I am unfair," said Borneabelze magnanimously. "Each gem contains an essence of one of the seven deadly sins. You must hold the gem in your hand and overcome the onslaught of emotions it will send at you. Each gem is labeled on the back. I ask only that you pass _one_ of their tests."

Elias cautiously walked over to the pedestal. Too late, Pupa remembered the Elders' teachings of Borneabelze. Most predominantly, the fact that anyone who had ever taken one of his 'tests' had become stark raving mad.

"Wait, Elias, don't do it!" cried Pupa as he selected a brilliant red ruby. His eyes glazed over, and he stood motionless with the ruby in his hand.

"NO!" yelled Pupa. She ran to his side, tugging at his sleeve, praying that he would snap out of it.

"Calm down, crystalwing," Borneabelze said. "He hasn't failed the test yet. I'd give him about two more minutes before he goes insane, though."

At this, his snout twisted into a mockery of Elias's grin. Pupa wanted to run over to the god and smack him in the nose, but she knew it would probably get both her and Elias killed. So she glared at him, staying by Elias's side.

"Don't let it beat you," she whispered. "You're stronger than some stupid god's test."

"He can't hear you, you know," Borneabelze told Pupa. "He is oblivious to the real world, trapped within his imagination. Looks like he picked the jewel of lust too. Seeing as he's male, there's no way he can survive it with his mind intact!" He chuckled evilly at this.

Pupa could already feel tears streaming down her face. It couldn't end like this! It _couldn't_!

Suddenly Elias's eyes cleared. He put the crystal back onto the pedestal and walked towards Borneabelze.

"Elias?" said Pupa nervously. She couldn't tell if he was back normal or insane.

Elias reached the god and said "That...was disgusting. I don't know why you thought any of _that_ was supposed to embody lust."

"You're not crazy!" cried Pupa happily. Before she could stop herself, she ran over to Elias and hugged him.

Borneabelze's eyes widened in shock. "What? How is this possible? No one has ever passed any of these tests before, much less the ruby one!"

Elias grinned. It didn't bother Pupa nearly as much this time around though.

"It really helped," said Elias "that I'm asexual."

Borneabelze's eyes narrowed. "You cheated!"

"I did no such thing. I followed all the rules. In fact, I could argue that _you_ cheated. It's not a gamble if the success rate is zero."

The god started to get up angrily, then stopped. He settled back down and twisted his mouth into what looked like a smile. "Fair enough, human. Fair enough. A deal is a deal. I will allow you to use my Wellfar Stone."

Elias turned to look down at Pupa, who was still clinging to him tightly.

"How do you use one of these things anyways?" he asked.

Pupa quickly removed herself from him, embarrassed. She had been so worried that she would lose him…

"All you have to do is think of the kingdom you want to go to, and it'll take you there," she replied.

"Sounds easy enough," said Elias, that damned grin still on his face.

Borneabelze sighed and gave Elias the Stone. He held it carefully, grabbed Pupa's hand with his free one, and a bright light enveloped them as they teleported away, the stone clattering to the ground after they left.

**********

When the light cleared away, Elias examined his surroundings. They were at the foot of a massive, orange-dusted mountain. He looked behind him and saw Hell in the distance, separated from them by a massive, dusty plain, as far as the eye could see.

Pupa smacked him lightly on the arm. "This isn't my home! This is Mount Lux!"

"I just kinda thought 'Pupa's home' in my head. You're telling me that this isn't it?" replied Elias.

"No it's not you dummy! It's Mount Lux! We're still super far away from Crysteria!"

Elias knew that he couldn't expect any gratitude for getting them out of Hell, but a little 'thank you' at least would've been nice.

"Well, if it's anything like Hell, we can find the god of this kingdom and ask to use _their_ Wellfar Stone," said Elias. "And this time, I'll let you control it so we can actually get to your home."

"That doesn't make everything better! We still have to climb this giant mountain! We wouldn't have to do that if _you_ had just thought of Crysteria instead!"

"Jeez, I'm sorry," said Elias. He figured anything else would get Pupa worked up even more. Then a thought came to him. He pointed to Pupa's wings and said "Wait a second. Can't you just _fly_ up to the top of the mountain?"

Pupa folded her wings in towards her body. "About that...I don't actually know how to use these yet. The Elders teach all the crystalwings how to fly after their metamorphosis, but…" Elias knew the rest.

"I guess there's nothing to it than to start climbing," said Elias wearily. The sun was high in the sky, but it had felt like a lot longer than just half a day. Maybe the days in Chromatica were longer?

Pupa stuck out her tongue at him and started the trek up Mount Lux. Elias shrugged and followed after her.

**********

Luckily, Mount Lux had a path that spiraled around the mountain, otherwise their hike would've been a lot harder.

Pupa led the way, fuming. If only _stupid_ Elias had just thought of her _real_ home, she wouldn't even have to climb this dumb mountain!

Pupa knew deep down that she was being unfair. Elias _had_ saved her from getting eaten not once, but twice, in Hell. And he _did_ beat Borneabelze's test. She knew that she'd probably be in some atirat's tummy without him. But it still made her mad that _one stupid mistake_ led to them climbing the mountain.

After two or three hours of climbing in silence, Elias attempted to break the ice, saying "So there were atirats in Hell, what can we expect here on Mount Lux?"

Pupa scowled, but answered back "No one lives on the sides of the mountain. But at the very top, there lives a species called octocoes. The Elders told me that they could tell the future and that they guarded a special sword for a time when a great hero would show up."

"Maybe that 'great hero' is climbing up this mountain with me, eh?" said Elias, clearly trying to cheer her up.

Well, too bad. Pupa wasn't going to stop being mad at him for one lousy joke. She scowled again and didn't reply.

They walked without speaking for what seemed like a whole day, but it must've only been half a day, because the sun set and they were forced to stop when they realized they could barely see their hands in front of their faces.

"This mountain seems pretty barren, so no fire," Elias said thoughtfully. Pupa didn't really care. She was just cold and tired and wanted to go to sleep. She laid down on the hard ground, _away from Elias_ , and promptly fell asleep.

**********

Even though Pupa had told him that the only life that could be found on the mountain was on top, Elias still knew that they had to keep watch. Seeing as how Pupa was out like a light, it fell to him to have guard duty.

So he sat there all night, keeping watch in case who-knows-what attacked them. He thought back to all he had gone through already. It was a crazy world indeed. He didn't know how Pupa had survived this long. These 'Elders' must be very powerful.

At some point during the night, Elias realized that Pupa had snuggled up close to him. He put his arm around her protectively, and the two stayed that way until morning.

**********

Pupa woke up to find Elias's arm over her shoulder. She instinctively moved to take it off, but then realized that he was fast asleep. Aw, she couldn't stay mad at him forever, no matter how much she wanted to.

She gently lifted his arm away so that she wouldn't wake him, and got up to watch the sunrise. She wondered if she would ever see Crysteria and the Elders again, or if she was doomed to travel the Kingdoms forever.

She sat this way for a while, until she heard a scuffling behind her. She turned and saw Elias.

"How about we continue our climb?" he said to her as he sat down.

Pupa looked out at the sunrise. "Just a few more minutes," she replied.

And so they sat in silence, but a significantly more companionable silence than yesterday, until the sun rose above the horizon.

**********

Elias knew that they were wasting time by watching the sunrise, but it was so different from Earth's that he couldn't tear his eyes away. The sun had been a normal yellow yesterday, but today it shone a brilliant green.

Eventually, though, he got up. Pupa followed his lead, and together they continued their trek up Mount Lux.

Pupa seemed back to normal, which was good. Who knows, maybe she was enjoying herself. Either way, Elias didn't like to see her upset, so he was happy that she was her usual self.

"How long do you think it will take to get to the top?" asked Pupa.

Elias glanced down to see how much progress they had made. To his surprise, they seemed to be almost at their destination. "We should be there pretty soon."

"That's good, I'm getting bored of walking all this time."

For the first time, Elias realized how much _energy_ this little girl had. With only one night's sleep, she was ready for a full day of mountain climbing. It was good that they didn't _need_ the full day. Maybe half an hour more, by Elias's estimation.

The rest of the hike passed without much sound, a joke here or there, but that was about it. Finally, they had reached the top.

What was waiting for them was most definitely not what Elias was expecting. The creature had the top half of a human, normal in every way except for the fact that it had orange skin. Its bottom half, however, was a mesh of orange tentacles. It had a serene, if pretentious, expression. This must be one of the 'octocoes' that Pupa had spoken of yesterday.

"Greetings, travelers," said the octocoe. "Your arrival was expected."

Ah, that's right. They could tell the future.

"If you already know why we're here, then you should know what we came here for," said Pupa.

"I know your reasons for being here, and I know Hecarate's reason for you being here," said the octocoe smoothly. "Come, follow me."

With that, the octocoe flourished and walked towards the temple. Elias shrugged, and the pair continued on after it.

**********

Pupa had heard of the octocoes, of course, but she had never seen one in person until today. They were quite ugly, but she knew to keep her mouth shut. The Elders had told her that they were nice to strangers (because to them, there _were_ no strangers), but they were known to kill those that didn't line up with what they wanted for Chromatica.

The octocoe led them into a large plaza, surrounded by small huts, with a white fountain in the center spewing orange water. At the very top of the fountain, a silver sword glistened in the green sunlight.

Pupa ran towards the sword, climbed the fountain, and tried to pull it out.

It didn't budge.

Letting out a small sound of disappointment, she climbed back down and took her place between the octocoe and Elias, glancing around, embarrassed by the other octocoes who were meditating around the fountain.

The octocoe smiled and said "Everyone tries that when they first get here. None, of course, have succeeded."

Elias looked at the sword for a long moment, then tore his gaze away and followed after the octocoe. Pupa heard him mutter something about a 'sword in the stone' but didn't catch all of it.

"Where are you taking us, anyways?" asked Elias.

"Why, I'm taking you to the goddess Hecarate of course," replied the octocoe. "She told us to bring you to her immediately when you were to come, Pupa and Elias."

Pupa shuddered. She knew that the octocoes could see into the future, but she still found it creepy that they knew her name without her having to give it to them.

The trio stopped in front of a gilded, golden castle. It was a beautiful thing, built into the cliff face behind them. It was very open to the air, with windows on seemingly every floor. The octocoe motioned for them to follow.

Pupa moved to go into the castle, but stopped when she realized Elias wasn't behind her. She whirled around to see him sprinting towards the fountain.

She looked at the octocoe incredulously, who returned her look with a small smile. Scowling, she ran after Elias.

Pupa reached the fountain just as Elias climbed it. He reached for the sword, pulled on it…

And it came out cleanly.

Pupa scowled again. Of course it worked for _him_ and not her. At least _she_ had her beautiful wings. Those were better than _any_ stupid sword!

The octocoes around the fountain all opened their eyes simultaneously as the sword came free of the fountain. Their expression was serene but calculating, as if they were trying to predict what would happen next. Elias, still at the top of the fountain, looked around nervously. "Uh, guys? You mind, uh, not staring at me?"

The octocoes ignored him. Or rather, they ignored his words and continued to stare at him, frozen. Elias slowly lowered himself off the fountain.

When he reached the bottom, he jogged up to Pupa and whispered, "I'm no hero. I think this sword is broken or something."

Pupa whispered back, "If you're not a hero, then give it to me. _I'm_ a hero after all."

He laughed softly, which annoyed Pupa to no end. But then he said, "It's all yours, Pupa. I wouldn't know how to use this thing anyways."

He leaned down to give her the sword. Happily, she reached to take it. But for some reason, he wouldn't let go.

"Let go!" she whispered.

"I can't!" replied Elias, his voice reaching a slightly higher pitch.

"One does not control _Ense Lucis_ ," said a voice, ringing out from the direction of the castle.

Pupa and Elias turned to see who had spoken, and Pupa nearly screamed. A great, tentacled creature emerged from the castle. Instead of the torso that all octocoes shared, a massive slate covered the tentacles. The slate had a feminine face, which was where the voice had come from.

"You must be Hecarate," said Pupa, trying to muster her courage.

"You guess correctly, child," replied the goddess smoothly. "It seems that you have found yourself in the company of greatness. That is not to say that you yourself will not aspire to greatness either," she continued, her eyes twinkling.

"Greatness?" said Elias, sounding genuinely confused.

Pupa snorted. Was he really that stupid that he didn't understand what it meant that he pulled out the sword?

"We have guarded _Ense Lucis_ for a millenia," said Hecarate. "You are the second being in existence to pull it out of the fountain."

This was news to Pupa. As far as the Elders had told her, no one had ever been able to pull out the sword before.

"Who was the first to be able to pull it out?" asked Pupa.

"The first was another human, actually," responded the goddess. "He came here maybe 1,000 years ago and used the sword for vile purposes before we put an end to him."

"Who _was_ this human anyways?" asked Elias. "This is the second time I'm hearing about any other humans here."

The news of another human _ever_ being in Chromatica was as new to Pupa as it was to Elias. But she stayed silent, knowing the goddess would explain.

“The human was a brave, resourceful man by the name of Lightning,” started Hecarate. “He traveled the Seven Kingdoms-”

Pupa couldn’t help herself; she interrupted, saying, “Seven Kingdoms? But there are only six.”

“Long ago, there was one other Kingdom. Now it is nothing but a wasteland.”

“You mean the Indigo Wastelands? That’s not a real Kingdom.”

“It used to be,” replied the goddess wistfully. “Now, stop interrupting, child. This human, Lightning, was taken from his world by force. He traveled through each of the Seven Kingdoms, helping all those he met. When he came through Mount Lux, he was able to procure the sword. He used it for good, until he got to Vio. Something there...changed him. After he left Vio, he started slaughtering all those in his path. Those that he had previously helped laid dead before his feet. He massacred everyone within Doriosus, which was what is now called the Indigo Wastelands. He even killed Doriosus’s god. _Ense Lucis_ turned from its silver color to an inky purple.”

“How did you beat him?” asked Pupa in wonder.

“I asked you to stop interrupting, child,” said Hecarate. “We defeated him by combining the power of the remaining five gods. We sent him back to his planet, and the sword returned to its silver sheen and its place in the fountain. And now, the second human to come here in a millennium and he also wields the sword. You seem like a good soul, human, so do me a favor and whatever you do, do _not_ go to Vio with that sword. It will corrupt both you and the sword beyond recognition.”

Pupa shuddered and looked up at Elias. He gripped the sword tightly and stared at Hecarate.

“Believe me, I don’t plan on doing so. But I’m glad to hear that there’s a way for me to get home,” said Elias.

“Do you wish to do so?” asked the goddess. “Hmmm, never mind, I can already see that you don’t.”

“Not just yet,” replied Elias, even though Hecarate had already stated his answer. “I have to get Pupa back to her home.”

At this, Pupa felt a rush of gratitude. She wasn’t sure what she had done to deserve Elias’s dedication, but she was happy to have it nonetheless.

The goddess thought for a second, probably looking into the future, then said, "I see that your ill-placed attachment to this girl will eventually lead you to Vio. I cannot let that happen"-she turned to the octocoes surrounding them-"kill her."

Pupa yelped in surprise and instinctively hid behind Elias. She cursed herself for being such a coward, but those octocoes looked _scary_ , and besides, Elias was the one with the sword.

As the octocoes surrounded them, Elias lifted up _Ense Lucis_ and swung it around.

"Stay away from her!" he shouted bravely, but Pupa thought that deep down he was just as scared as her.

As the first octocoe lashed out with its tentacle, something strange seemed to come over Elias. His eyes became wreathed in a multicolored flame, and he sliced the octocoe in half faster than Pupa could blink. She stared in horror as he cut through the horde of octocoes surrounding them, so fast that she barely had time to glance at him before he murdered an octocoe and moved on to the next. It was as if he had changed into a completely different person.

All too soon, the octocoes that once seemed like such a large number had been slaughtered right to zero. Elias stood there, panting, his eyes still aflame. He pointed _Ense Lucis_ at Hecarate and said in a cold voice, "You could predict what would happen if Pupa were to live. Now tell me, what do you think will happen next?"

At this, he grinned. But it wasn't the trademark Elias grin that Pupa was starting to warm up to. No, this was an evil, soulless grin. It shook Pupa to her very core, and she wasn't even its target.

The goddess, to her credit, was as impassive as ever. "You can't kill me. You need me to get home."

At the mention of home, the flames disappeared from Elias's eyes and he slumped down slightly. He stared around, as if coming out of a trance.

"What...what the hell did I just do?" he said softly, looking around in terror. His eyes locked with Pupa's, and she backed away slowly.

"This should serve as a lesson," said Hecarate. "The sword can take your innermost desires and warp them into something ugly. You wanted to protect the crystalwing, and look what came of it." At this, she motioned to the octocoe bodies strewn around the plaza.

Elias looked horrified by what he had done, but Pupa was still hesitant to come over to him. He _was_ still carrying the sword, after all.

After what seemed like forever, but was probably only a minute or two, Elias lowered the sword. He put it onto his back, and a sheath materialized out of thin air to hold it.

Pupa let out a big sigh that she hadn't realized she was holding. She ran over to Elias and looked him hard in the eye. He looked even more scared than Pupa felt, but other than that, his eyes were the same dull blue that they normally were.

Hecarate, however, was far from done with the two of them.

"This is very touching," she said dryly, "but I'm afraid that my verdict remains unchanged. The crystalwing must die if this world will remain intact. Of that I am certain. Octocoes, to me!"

At her command, octocoes started to swarm out of hidden alcoves. Elias looked around with wide eyes, and without further delay, grabbed Pupa's hand, and the pair ran off the mountain as the octocoes gave chase.

**********

Elias was still half in shock. He had just murdered an entire group of octocoes. He didn't even really understand how it had happened. One moment he was talking to the goddess, then she tried to have Pupa killed, and the next thing he knew, he was in a rage so complete that he didn't even realize it until it was over.

Pupa kept looking at him frightfully as they ran. He didn't blame her. Right now, he scared himself.

All too soon, the pair reached a cliff face. The drop was so large that Elias could barely see the bottom. They turned back and saw the octocoes right behind them, a vengeful look in their eyes.

Elias motioned instinctively to pull the sword out of its sheath, then stopped when he saw Pupa's eyes widen beside him. What had Hecarate said? It was " _one does not control Ense Lucis_ " or something like that. Did that mean that it would control him? He shuddered at the thought.

Octocoes on one side, an unfathomable drop on the other, Elias did what he thought was the only option left.

He jumped.

**********

Pupa twisted around, shocked. Maybe Borneabelze's test really _had_ made Elias crazy.

But then she turned back to the octocoes and realized that it was either certain death by tentacle or a slim chance at life off the cliff. Seeing why Elias had made her choice, she jumped after him, wings spread.

**********

Elias tumbled through the air, looking along the cliff face for something he could grab onto before he fell to his death.

As his eyes scanned the rapidly moving cliff, _Ense Lucis_ sprung unbidden into his hand. Without thinking, he stabbed it into the sheer cliff. He gripped the sword as tightly as he could, and he felt his descent slowing.

When he finally came to a halt, he let out a sigh of relief. That is, until he saw Pupa plummeting past him, terror in her eyes.

"Pupa!" he shouted, but there was nothing he could do as she shot past him, flailing.

**********

Pupa fell, and unlike Elias, didn't have a sword to stop her descent. She swung her arms, legs, and wings around, hoping to gain purchase of something.

She shot past Elias, who had managed to come to a stop by digging his sword into the cliff. She allowed herself a small moment of relief that he was safe, then continued to try to figure out how to stop herself from going splat onto the foot of the mountain, which was fast approaching.

She tried to remember the other crystalwings, and how she had spied on them when they were first learning to fly. She remembered the one-two motion of their wings flapping. _"Don't think about it, do it,"_ she remembered one of the elders saying one day.

So Pupa stopped thinking so hard. She closed her eyes and flapped her wings, not rapidly as she had been doing, but slowly, rhythmically.

To her amazement, she felt herself slowing. Without too much thought, she stopped herself from falling completely, a short distance away from the ground.

"I can do it!" she exclaimed. "I can fly! I can fly! I CAN FLY!!!!"

Distracted from her hovering by the fact that she _was_ hovering, she fell the last bit of distance and hit the ground hard.

"Owwww…," she said quietly. She shook it off and looked up at the mountain, where Elias dangled by _Ense Lucis_ , and even farther up, where the octocoes stared angrily at him.

**********

Elias looked down at Pupa in shock. He could’ve sworn that she had told him that she couldn’t fly. And now she was doing it like she was always able to!

Unfortunately, Elias couldn’t fly himself, and his grip on the sword was loosening by the second. At least he’d be rid of the damn thing if he fell. And Pupa could take care of herself now that she could fly out of danger.

Before his grip could fail him, the sword itself seemed to spring out of the cliff all by itself. Elias began to fall, slowly at first, then faster and faster…

Until he stopped abruptly. He could feel small hands lifting him by the armpits, and he turned his head in surprise to see Pupa struggling to hold him up.

“Pupa!” exclaimed Elias in surprise. “Let go, you’ll get us both killed!”

But Pupa wasn’t going to give up that easily. “No! You stayed by me when I was going to die, so I’m _not_ abandoning you!”

Elias felt a rush of affection for the little girl. He hadn’t realized that he had inspired such loyalty. But in the end, he knew that it was either he died or they both did.

So he slapped her in the face, probably harder than necessary. Stunned, she let go, and Elias plummeted towards the ground, ready at last to accept his fate.

**********

“No!” Pupa screamed as she realized what Elias had done. She flew as fast as she could down to where his body lay. Her flight wasn’t as good as the Elders’, of course, but she felt that it was getting better every second.

She touched down clumsily and ran over to Elias. He was lying crumpled in a heap, his head turned away from her.

Pupa panicked. Was he dead? After all that? He was able to protect her from a ton of octocoes but died from a fall? She refused to believe it.

What was it that the Elders did when another crystalwing looked like she was dead? That’s right! They would check the crystalwing’s neck!

Pupa wasn’t sure if it would work on humans, but she knew that it was worth a shot. She knelt by his neck, and placed her hand to his throat.

She couldn’t feel a thing. She concentrated harder, unwilling to give up. Still nothing. Wait! There! If she concentrated really hard, she could feel a faint flutter!

Pupa jumped up happily. Nothing could kill Elias!

She looked back down at his body and instantly sobered. He may not be dead, but he still wasn’t moving. Pupa would give anything to see that stupid grin again…

She looked beyond the mountain and realized that she was in luck. Right before her lay the Golden Sands, home of the lazars, the best healers in all of Chromatica.

Unfortunately, they lived a lot closer to the Crysteria border than the Mount Lux border. Pupa realized for the first time how close she was to her home. All she had to do was cross the Golden Sands and she’d be back.

She moved to grab Elias and start walking, but she felt so, so tired all of a sudden. Maybe just a short nap? It was getting dark anyways…

And with that, Pupa fell asleep, draped over Elias protectively.

**********

Being dead was not what Elias expected at all.

For one thing, heaven (for this seemed too good to be true) looked a lot like his room. He got out of bed groggily, looking around.

It was exactly as he remembered. The posters, the closet, the nightstand, everything was identical to when he had left a day ago. Had it only been a day? It felt like so much longer…

He walked out of his room into the hallway. Like his room, it was identical to how he remembered, except for one thing: there was an extra door at the end of the hall.

Curious, he walked to the door and opened it. He gasped in surprise. He was _not_ expecting this.

The room had green walls, each adorned with gems of all different colors. They all sparkled in the morning light that poured out of the window. But the most surprising part of the room was the canopy bed, in which a child was sound asleep.

Elias went closer to the bed and saw that the kid was Pupa. He reached over to her cautiously, unsure of whether to wake her or let her sleep. Even though he had forced her to let go, she could very well be dead along with him.

Screw it, she can sleep later. He gently shook her. “Pupa, wake up.”

She shifted until she faced Elias. She opened her eyes slowly and gazed at him. He took a step back. Her eyes were glowing with fire.

**********

Pupa woke up with a jump. She had had a horrible nightmare, and was eager to get back to reality.

Even if it wasn’t much better.

Elias was still lying on the ground, unmoving. She checked his pulse again. Still there, but harder than before to feel.

Nervously, she stood and tried to pick him up. Wow, he was _really_ heavy. What did they even eat on Earth?

She was eventually able to get a good grip by slinging his arm over her head. And with that established, she began her long trek over the Golden Sands.

She wished she had fancy words to describe it, but it was really just a boring desert. Sand stretched as far as the eye could see, seemingly without end. But she knew she had to get Elias through it unless she wanted him dead, so she trekked on relentlessly.

**********

Elias jumped back in shock, his arm instinctively going for _Ense Lucis_. Instinctively? When did that happen? He'd had the sword for what, 20 minutes?

Either way, it wasn't on his back like he expected it to be. Pupa-no, this _thing_ wasn't Pupa-got out of the bed and started walking menacingly towards him. Upon closer inspection, he realized that the creature didn’t even _look_ like Pupa. It was a boy, though it looked to be around the same age as her. It unfurled its wings, but instead of Pupa's bright blue, the wings that unfolded were dark and leathery, like a bat's.

Elias quickly ran out of the room and into the hallway. Not-Pupa was close behind him, matching every step with a sinister one of its own.

He descended his stairs as swiftly as possible, and dashed to his front door. Locked. He moved his hand to the doorknob only to discover that it wasn't there.

Not-Pupa came up from behind him. Unable to do anything, Elias stood there, ready to accept his death. Not-Pupa opened its mouth far wider than any human would be able to, and let out a gut-wrenching scream.

**********

Three days, and three nights. That’s how long Pupa had been trekking through the desert with Elias in tow. There was nothing but an endless expanse of sand and a bunch of cacti dotting it. Pupa was grateful for the cacti. She probably would’ve died without it. The spines were a pain in the butt to remove, but once she did, the cacti were actually quite tasty. And, of course, they had water in them.

She had poured water from the cacti into Elias’s mouth, but there was no way that she was sticking food in there. That would be _gross_. Still, his breathing got fainter and fainter every day.

Pupa knew deep down that Elias wouldn’t last another day. So when she came over yet another sand dune and saw the Temple of the Golden Sands, she nearly collapsed in relief.

But she knew that she had to get there before nightfall, and the sun had almost set. She had been lucky the past three nights, but she knew that scorpions roamed the sands as well as lazars. It was kind of weird that she hadn’t seen either.

But as the sky turned dark, she realized that her luck had run out. Scorpions started to emerge from their hidden burrows in the sand. Pupa shivered. She _hated_ scorpions, and anything creepy-crawly really.

She glanced at Elias’s prone form. Even though he had been unconscious for three days, he still held that cursed sword in a death grip. No matter what Pupa had tried, she hadn’t been able to pry it away from him.

Which was a shame. She wanted to hurl the thing as far away as possible from him. Back on Mount Lux, when he held that sword...he wasn’t Elias. No, he was something much worse, to be able to kill all those octocoes without hesitation.

Either way, Pupa would have been _very_ grateful if Elias had woken up at this moment. The scorpions were growing in number, and she didn’t know what to do about them. But there was no way that she was giving up. _No way_.

The scorpions converged onto her, ready to sting her with all of their little barbed tails and probably eat her alive. But if that were to happen, then Elias would be soon to follow.

As her resolve hardened, an idea came to Pupa’s head. She could just _fly_ the rest of the way to the Temple of the Golden Sands. But that would mean leaving Elias behind, and at this point, Pupa would rather die than do that.

She racked her brain for more ideas. As the scorpions drew nearer, she had a sudden moment of clarity. Her wings weren’t _just_ for flying. She remembered the other crystalwings using them to clean their trees, by flapping them over and over again until all the bugs and dirt had been swept away.

She beat them, slowly at first, then faster and faster. The scorpions, small and light, couldn’t maintain their grip on the sand and were blown away, hopefully to never be seen again.

Pupa jumped into the air victoriously. She had done it! No more scorpions to worry about, and a clear path to the Temple of the Golden Sands. Things were looking up.

She made her way down the very last dunes and limped (she _was_ still carrying Elias, after all) all the way to the temple.

When she got there, she was stopped by a phalanx of lazars. "What's that you've got there?" one asked gruffly.

"He's my friend," said Pupa, trying to look as desperate and helpless as possible. Fortunately, she didn't have to try that hard, as she _was_ feeling desperate and helpless after three days in the Golden Sands. "He fell from really high and I don't know if he's gonna make it. Can you please heal him?"

At this, she felt a genuine tear roll down her cheek. She really _hadn't_ known whether Elias would make it. But she figured that if anyone would be able to patch him up, it would be the lazars.

The one that had spoken gruffly to her's expression softened. "Yeah, we'll take him. This won't be free though," he said. He and the one next to him each took a side of Elias and carried him to a nearby building.

The building consisted of a single room, with a bed (it didn’t look as comfy as Elias’s had been though) and a shelf containing all sorts of medicines. An elderly lazar was waiting by the table.

“Put him down, put him down,” fretted the old lazar. She saw his condition, grabbed some stuff from the shelf, and began working.

**********

Elias woke up by vomiting all over the floor.

“Easy there,” he heard a soothing voice say. “You’re lucky to be alive.”

After he had let everything out, he took a look around. He wasn’t in that twisted version of his house anymore, that was for sure. His first sight was a kindly looking creature, with yellow scales and a long snout. Its posture was that of a human’s, and it looked at him with what looked like an expression of concern.

The next thing his eyes fell upon was Pupa, hanging back with a couple more of the creatures. When she saw him look at her, she rushed over to him and tackled him into an embrace.

The impact caused a surge of pain in his stomach. “Owwwww,” he moaned weakly.

“Easy, child,” said the kindly looking lizard-creature. “Just because he’s awake doesn’t mean that he’s all better.”

“Sorry…,” Pupa muttured. She moved to disentangle herself from Elias, but he pulled her closer.

“I’m glad that you’re alive,” he whispered to her.

“You too,” said Pupa contentedly back. She then proceeded to fall asleep in his arms.

"Sorry about that," said the lizard-creature. "She insisted on staying in the room throughout the procedure. Something tells me that she really likes you"

"Procedure? What did you do to me?" Elias asked nervously.

"You were greatly injured when the girl brought you here," started the lizard-creature. "You were severely concussed, almost to the point of death. We had to make a few...adjustments to your head."

Before he could ask exactly what she meant by _adjustments_ , Elias's right hand cramped up. He noticed the sword still in a death grip. He sighed and put the sword in its sheath. It seemed like that was the only way to get rid of it.

Then Elias realized something that the lizard-creature had said. _"You were greatly injured when the girl brought you here"_.

"Did she...carry me all the way here?" asked Elias.

"She claims that she came all the way from Mount Lux," replied the lizard-creature. "That's at least a two day's walk from here. No wonder the poor thing fell asleep after she realized that you were ok. Her stress must've been the only thing keeping her running."

Pupa had carried him all the way here? He had to be at least twice her weight. Not to mention the damn sword that didn't seem to want to let him go…

It must've taken a tremendous amount of willpower to haul him all the way here. Elias's heart swelled with pride and gratitude. The sleeping girl in his arm was a lot stronger than he had originally given her credit for.

The next few days passed by far too slowly for Elias's liking. The lizard-creature, apparently called a lazar, told him he couldn't leave for a week. The first day he wasn't even able to get out of bed, and Pupa had stayed with him the entire day. He was glad that she did, for the room was plain. It was a dry yellowish, and there were no decorations besides the medicines that lined the shelves, of which there were many.

The second day he was able to move, and he went outside for some fresh, desert air. He thought he felt all better, but he trusted that the lazar knew what she was doing, and didn't press when she reminded him of the length of time that he had to stay.

The other five days were all pretty much the same. Elias stayed in bed for the most part, going outside every so often to watch Pupa play with the lazar children. She seemed to have fun with them, but would occasionally glance at the Crysteria border longingly. Elias had told her more than once that she could leave and go to her home without him, but each time she stubbornly refused.

Finally, after a week that felt like a month, Elias was healed and ready to move on.

"Thank you so much for your service," Elias said to the lazar, and motioned to leave.

"Where do you think you're going?" she asked. "I haven't gotten my payment yet. I don't work for free you know!"

"Payment, huh," Elias murmured. The truth was, he kind of thought that the lazar had healed him out of the goodness of her own heart.

"How about that nice looking sword of yours?" pressed the lazar, pointing to the sheath that still hung from his back.

Elias laughed and said, "If you can get it out of the sheath, it's all yours."

The lazar went over to him and pulled as hard as she could. The sword wouldn't budge, of course.

Seeing that it was futile, she pointed to Pupa.

"Nice try," said Elias. "She's gotten this far, I won't let you eat her here and now."

The lazar looked appalled. "Eat her? That's not what I wanted at all. I just want some of her crystalwing powder. They're always so stingy about it, and it has great medicinal properties."

Pupa had overheard and had come silently behind Elias. "I'll give you some. After all, it's the least I can do."

"Excellent!" said the lazar. "I'll go get a jar."

As the lazar left, Elias turned to Pupa and said "What's this about crystalwing powder?"

"It's a kind of dust that comes off of our wings. If you put them in Crysterian nectar, it turns into eggs to make more crystalwings."

Elias understood immediately what its purpose was, and struggled not to vomit.

Just then, the lazar came back and held a jar under Pupa's wings expectantly.

Unperturbed, Pupa shook her wings until a fine, sparkly substance spilled out. She saw Elias's disgusted look and said, "What?"

Elias turned away and muttered, "Nothing…"

Pupa smirked at Elias's embarrassment, though he guessed that she wouldn't be smirking if she knew what her powder was _really_ for. She finished shaking the crystalwing powder into the jar, and bounded towards the border, seeming to be unable to wait another moment.

"Thank you for everything!" Elias called to the lazar as he ran ahead to catch up to Pupa.

**********

She was finally going home! After what felt like forever, she was finally coming back!

Pupa skipped ahead happily. It was only an hour’s walk from the Temple of the Golden Sands, an hour’s walk away to Crysteria!

She couldn’t wait to show Elias around. The wonders of his world had seemed boring to him, so she was willing to bet that even the boring parts of Crysteria would be exciting for him. Both him and the Elders knew so much, maybe they could have a conversation about smart people stuff. Even if Elias _was_ awfully stupid at times.

Elias was way too slow. He walked with his head down, looking like he was thinking a lot. Pupa didn’t understand why he wasn’t more excited, but then again, he _was_ still far from his home. To him, this was just another Kingdom. But to her, it was so much more.

Hopefully the Elders would have a way for him to get back home. But for now, it was _her_ turn to go home.

As they approached the border, Elias stopped. Confused, Pupa turned to look at him. They were so close! Why would he stop now?

“Something’s wrong,” said Elias quietly.

“Well we’re not gonna find out what it is by just standing here!” Pupa exclaimed. _She_ didn’t feel anything, and she didn’t want to wait another second to get back home. Maybe Elias was jealous, and that's why he didn't want to go.

Elias shrugged and continued walking. Pupa charged across the border and into the forest, ready at last to make her homecoming.

**********

The forest of Crysteria was beautiful, no doubt. The trees stretched as far above as he could see. Each leaf was ordinated with multicolored jewels. The forest itself seemed to emanate a soft glow.

Yet Elias couldn’t help but feel that something was off. Maybe it had something to do with _Ense Lucis_. No matter what it was, he couldn’t let Pupa charge off into danger without him, even if this _was_ her home.

He followed her deeper and deeper into the forest. Eventually, they broke into a clearing. Elias couldn’t help but gasp.

A great city was laid out here. There were no buildings, but that didn't mean it wasn't populated. Crystalwings flew from treetop to treetop above him. They were talking, eating, and sleeping. Curiously enough, he couldn’t find a single male crystalwing. Maybe they were all female.

As he pondered this, an older looking crystalwing spotted them and flew down. "What is that creature you're with?" she asked.

"Elder Chrysalis!" Pupa said happily as she lunged for the crystalwing.

Elder Chrysalis hugged Pupa back without looking down at her, then turned to Elias. "Are you...a human?" she said suspiciously.

Before Elias could answer, Pupa responded, "Yes! He's my human friend Elias. He helped me get back here from his world."

"That's nice, dearie," said Elder Chrysalis distractedly. "What are you _really_ doing here, human? Here to destroy another Kingdom?"

Pupa gasped and left Elder Chrysalis's embrace. "He would never do something like that!" she said indignantly. "He may be dumb at times but he's not a bad guy!"

Elias glared at her, but Chrysalis butted in before he could say anything to her.

"That sword he wields begs to differ," she said haughtily.

"I'd get rid of it if I could, believe me," Elias said back. He could tell that Pupa liked her, but he couldn't see the appeal.

"Unfortunately, you've come at a very bad time," said Elder Chrysalis. "The other Elders were kidnapped by wights a few days ago."

Pupa gasped again. "We have to go save them! They would've done the same for me."

"Would they have really?" Elias asked snarkily. "I didn't see them rushing to your rescue when you fell to Earth."

He had said this to try to get a reaction from Elder Chrysalis, but she remained silent. Instead, the comment evoked a different emotion for Pupa.

Tears filled her eyes. "You would have if you could, right Elder Chrysalis?"

"Of course, dearie," replied Elder Chrysalis. "Had we known you were missing, we would have launched a rescue mission immediately."

"You mean you didn't even know she was missing?!" Elias said, surprised. He didn't like this first impression, but Pupa had made it seem that the Elders had cared for her, nurtured her. He was doubting that more and more but the second.

"You wouldn't understand, _human_ ," said Elder Chrysalis with scorn in her voice. "There are so many crystalwings in Crysteria that it's impossible to keep track of them all."

Pupa looked stunned. Elias felt a stab of sympathy for the poor girl. The Elders that she had worked so hard to get back to hadn't even realized that she was missing.

The tears flowing freely now, she turned around abruptly and flew away.

"Shit," Elias muttered. To Elder Chrysalis, he said, "This is just as much of my fault as it is yours. You should at least know the damn _names_ of your subjects!"

He sprinted after Pupa, knowing full well that she had probably flown too high for him to reach.

**********

Despite what Elias had thought, Pupa didn’t fly up high, where the other crystalwings were fluttering about. Instead, she went to the trunk of her favorite tree, hidden among a bunch of bushes. She had always gone there before whenever she was feeling upset. It didn’t seem to have the same comforting weight as before, but she wanted to be away from everyone, so here she was.

How could she have been so _stupid_? She should’ve realized a long time ago that the Elders didn’t love her. They treated all the larvae the same. She never got any special treatment, yet she had still felt a bond to them.

Maybe...maybe it was because she had never experienced love before. Sure, the Elders let her sleep with them when she was scared, but she was starting to suspect that that was more to shut her up than anything. Perhaps crystalwings weren’t capable of love…

But no, that couldn’t be right. In the last week, Elias had cared for her, and helped her get back to Crysteria. He had no reason to do that. In fact, she felt that he was worse off now that he was trapped in Chromatica and was basically enslaved to a magic sword. But he had helped her through it all, with no complaint. Maybe that was what love was. Helping and caring for a person. Not something that _she_ would know anything about.

At the same time, though, she felt a strong connection to Elias. She felt...safe around him, and didn’t want to see him get hurt. Maybe she _did_ know how to experience love after all.

As she was musing over her thoughts and her tears started to dry, she heard a rustling behind her. She turned to see Elias coming out of the bushes, looking relieved.

“Ah, there you are! I’m sorry about that Chrysalis lady. She seemed like a real asshole.”

Pupa sniffled. Damn, she sounded so weak!

Seeing her expression, Elias came over to her and wrapped her up in a hug. They stayed that way for a while.

**********

After embracing for a long time, the two finally got up and began to think about the future.

“You still have to find a way to get home,” said Pupa insightfully, still wiping tears from her eyes.

Elias wanted to talk about how Pupa was feeling, but he realized that she didn’t want to even think about it. So he said, “It sounds like in order to be able to get back home, I’ll need to get the help of all the gods. Borneabelze might be willing, Hecarate definitely won’t be, and I haven’t met the rest of the gods yet. Who is the god of Crysteria anyways?”

Pupa looked at the ground and mumbled, “All the Elders combined make up our god.”

“How does that work? Do they all morph up like the Power Rangers?”

Pupa just gave him a blank look.

“Nevermind,” said Elias absently. “So if we need all the gods’ powers, then our first step is to rescue the rest of the Elders from the wights, right?”

Elias thought that maybe he was being a little selfish by diverting focus onto _his_ problems, but he wanted to distract Pupa from the fact that the people who raised her didn’t give two shits about her.

Too late, he realized that he had diverted the conversation right back to the Elders. Pupa sniffled again and said, “I don’t want to rescue those people, but I’ll do it if it helps you get back home”

Again, Elias felt a rush of affection for the little girl. He thought that he must’ve come to love the little tyke like he would a baby sister, thought how that happened he didn’t know. He also couldn’t figure out how he had inspired such loyalty from her.

“So where’s our next stop?” Elias asked, forcing some cheer into his voice.

“Well, if Elder Chrysalis is feeling nice, we can use her Wellfar stone to teleport straight to Vio. Otherwise, we’ll have to go to Lazulia first, then the Indigo Wastelands, and only _then_ can we go to Vio.”

"Ok, so asking Chrysalis is out since she's an asshat," said Elias. "What can we expect from Lazulia? Is the god there anything like Borneabelze?"

"Actually, the Elders told me that he's really lazy and will often give you what you want just to get rid of you," replied Pupa. "But at this point I don't know whether to trust them on anything anymore…"

Elias thought for a moment, then said "Well they didn't lie about any of the other Kingdoms, so I don't see why they'd lie about this one."

He grabbed Pupa's hand and pulled her up. Then, together, they set off to Lazulia.

**********

Pupa and Elias walked through Crysteria far more quickly than Pupa would have thought possible. Maybe now that she had traveled to other Kingdoms, she realized just how small her own was.

All too soon, they broke out of the forest and found themselves on a sandy beach, with nothing but miles and miles of azure ocean ahead of them.

"Don't tell me we have to swim through all of that," said Elias nervously.

"Of course we do, silly," said Pupa, mimicking Elias's grin. She was still forlorn about the Elders but was happy to have something else to focus on for the time being.

"Lazulia is a special Kingdom. It's all underwater," she explained.

"Well I don't know about you, but I can't breathe underwater," replied Elias even more nervously.

"Normally I can't either," said Pupa. "But Lazulia's ocean is special. Anyone can breathe it just like normal air."

Elias still seemed hesitant. "How can you be so sure?"

"I used to play here when I was little," said Pupa, remembering how she would pretend that she could fly under the water. Now she could _actually_ fly, and it was _so_ much better. There was no drag or _anything_.

Pupa realized that she wasn't going to convince Elias without proof. So without even bothering to breathe in, she dove into the water.

The coolness of the ocean brought back even more memories. But now even those were tainted by the Elders' lies. She recalled going here all the time, but that no one else ever wanted to play with her. _"Weird Pupa,"_ they would say, _"She's more merpalial than crystalwing!"_

Well, the joke was on _them_ now! She couldn't see any of the other crystalwings, even the Elders, daring to swim even as far as she had already gone.

Which reminded her...where was Elias? She assumed that he would follow her right in, but she turned back and he was nowhere to be seen.

She swam back up to the top and broke the surface only to see Elias still on the beach, a terrified expression on his face.

"Oh my gods, you're afraid of water!" exclaimed Pupa. It was the only explanation that made sense! It was still surprising, though. Pupa didn't think that he was afraid of _anything_ , much less something that couldn't even hurt him, like Lazulian waters.

Elias jerked back, startled by Pupa's sudden reemergence. "N-no I'm not!"

Pupa made her way back to shore and said "You totally are. I can't believe that you were able to face down _gods themselves_ yet you're afraid of getting a little wet! Ha!"

Elias muttered something under his breath. "Just because crystalwings can breathe underwater doesn't mean that humans can," he said to her louder.

Pupa couldn't help but giggle. _Water_! He was afraid of _water_!

"It's not funny!" said Elias indignantly. "I could die down there!"

After she had stopped laughing, Pupa said "Nope. The Elders specifically told me that _every_ species could breathe Lazulian water, so that includes humans!"

Elias still glanced at the water nervously. "I'm sorry Pupa, I just can't do this. Let's go back to Crysteria and politely ask Chrysalis for her Wellfar stone."

Pupa was 100% positive that Chrysalis would _never_ let them use her Wellfar stone, especially after Elias had pissed her off, and she didn't know anything about the god (or maybe goddess) of the Golden Sands, so asking the god of Lazulia was the only option left.

But Pupa realized that maybe she should've thought twice before teasing Elias. He was clearly deathly afraid of water. She also realized that there was no getting him in there with reason and logic, of which she was _full_ of. In fact, there was only one way she could think of to get him in the water.

"Ok, stay there," she told him. "I'll go back and ask Elder Chrysalis _alone_ , since she already hates you."

Elias, clearly relieved that he wouldn't have to swim, said, "Ok" and turned back to look at the water with trepidation.

This was her chance! Pupa walked far enough back to the forest to get a running start, then dashed over to Elias as fast as she could and bowled him into the water.

**********

Elias felt a small body slam into him, then all of a sudden, he was underwater. He immediately held his breath, but he knew it wouldn't last forever.

_"No no no no no!"_ he thought. Of course he could swim, he lived in Florida after all, but he still hated the water with every fiber of his being. And now he was going to die in it, just as he had always feared.

The small body was still dragging him deeper and deeper into the ocean, so he turned around to look at his assailant. To his surprise, it was Pupa, pushing him into the depths with a fierce look on her face.

Elias struggled against her, but she must've had a lot more experience underwater than he did, because she outmaneuvered him easily and pushed him even farther under.

When he had been trekking through Chromatica, he always half expected Pupa to be the death of him, but he never pictured her being the one to actually kill him.

Well, that was it. He was struggling to hold on to the last vestiges of breath he had left. All in all, he had had a lot of fun with Pupa, even if she _was_ the one to kill him in the end. He gave in to his burning lungs, and took a breath…

...only to find that he could breathe just as easily as on the surface. Shocked, he stopped fighting against Pupa. Seeing his expression, she grinned a very condescending grin. He hoped _he_ never looked like that when he smiled.

“If only you had _listened_ to me instead of ignoring me,” said Pupa smugly, “then I wouldn’t have had to push you in.”

“We can _speak_ in this magic water too?” Elias said as they started swimming towards some lights in the distance, surprised again. He never thought that such a thing could exist. Maybe he _should_ have listened to Pupa instead of letting his fear take over for him…

“Of course we can speak, dummy. How else would the merpalials be able to communicate?”

Elias wasn’t sure if it was just him or if Pupa seemed to be getting cheekier and cheekier by the second. Maybe his fear of water made her think that she could look down on him. Well, it was time to erase _that_ idea from her head.

But before he could come up with anything, the lights that were previously in the distance came into view. Elias gasped in wonder, and even Pupa paused to look in awe.

A vast underwater city lay before them. Spires reached high but never broke the surface. The lights that seemed miniscule before shone brightly through the sea. What looked like mermen and mermaids swam through the city, going about what looked like their daily lives.

Elias pointed to one of them and said “I suppose that these are merpalials?”

“Yeah…,” replied Pupa distractedly, still taking in the wonders of the city.

They floated there together for a while until a merpalial guard noticed them and approached them.

"You there!" he shouted. "What's your business here at Otiosum?"

"That bodes well for their god," Elias muttered to Pupa. Then, louder, he said, "We have come to speak to your god! We have urgent news regarding Crysteria!"

Elias figured that the god hadn't actually heard the news that the Elders had been kidnapped, and he thought that he might as well use that information to gain access to the god.

"Alright, come in through here and wait in line," said the guard, sounding bored.

"Line?" Elias said to Pupa. "Hopefully it won't be too long."

Unfortunately for them, the line stretched across what seemed to be the entirety of Otiosum. It snaked back and forth through the streets and looked miles long.

The guard turned to go back to his post, but before he could, Elias grabbed his shoulder and said, "Any chance that we could skip this line? We have _very_ important news that the god won't want to miss."

At this the guard chuckled. "You and everyone else," he said. "Back of the line for you!"

Elias had no idea how much time the god spent with each petitioner, but even if it was just a few minutes each, it would take Elias and Pupa months to reach the front. And they definitely didn't have months to spare.

"We need to sneak in," Pupa whispered after the guard had left.

"Or I could just threaten everyone in line until we get to the front," replied Elias, drawing _Ense Lucis_ from its sheath.

"NO!" Pupa whisper-shouted. "You can't use that thing unless you absolutely have to!"

Remembering the octocoes, Elias put the sword back into the sheath and said, "Alright, fine. Sneaking in it is. But how are we going to get past a line that huge without anyone in it noticing that we're cutting?"

Pupa smirked and replied, "Leave that to me."

**********

The Elders were many things, but uninformed was not one of them. They had taught Pupa all about these lines and how they sometimes took months, even years, to cycle through. They also taught her how to avoid it: through the servants' entrance.

She remembered studying a map of Cordelian's palace, and she knew exactly where to go. Looking back she realized that the Elders really didn’t have a good reason to know this stuff, but right now she was grateful that they did. She took hold of Elias's hand and tugged him in its direction. He looked confused, but allowed himself to be pulled along. Not like he would've had much of a choice anyways. He really _sucked_ at swimming.

Eventually the pair managed to circle around the palace and towards the servants' entrance. Unfortunately, there was a pair of merpalials talking right in front of it.

"I don't suppose you have a way to get past them," Elias muttered to her.

"Of course I do!" replied Pupa. While she had never met a merpalial before today, the Elders had told her that they loved treasure, and she was prepared to take full advantage of that.

With Elias in tow, she quickly swam down towards the merpalials and said, "Someone in line is giving away all their jewelry! You better go quick before it all runs out!"

The merpalials looked skeptical, but Pupa's gamble paid off: they were too greedy to resist even a _chance_ at treasure. They quickly swam off, leaving Pupa and Elias alone.

"See? Easy," said Pupa triumphantly, grinning Elias's stupid grin right back at him. While she had been in the desert she had been secretly practicing, and at Elias's annoyed look, it seemed like all that effort hadn't been for nothing.

The pair swam through the servants' entrance with no one else to stop them, and just like that, they were in Cornelian's palace.

**********

The servants' entrance eventually led out right to the throne room. Oddly enough, Elias and Pupa hadn't encountered a single other merpalial on their way. The throne room itself was grand, with a long red carpet (Elias wasn't sure how it stayed weighted down under the water) and a throne laden with jewels in the center.

The pair crouched in the hallway of the servants' entrance, hidden from sight for now. Elias moved to barge into the throne room but Pupa pulled him back and hissed, "Wait!"

She pointed to a small alcove behind the throne. In it lay a Wellfar stone, completely unguarded but for the petitioners in front of the god.

"We don't even need to talk to Cornelian," said Pupa. "We can just sneak in to use the Wellfar stone and he'll never even know we were here."

Elias figured that maybe a direct approach would be better, but Pupa knew this god better than he did, so he went along as they began to sneak into the throne room.

The god was not what Elias had been expecting. He was almost like a minotaur, in that he had a human torso and legs. But instead of a bull’s head, he had the visage of a shark plastered onto his body. He constantly yawned and looked away from whoever was talking to him.

He was busy with a petitioner, and the other petitioners in line were so focused on him that they didn't even notice Elias and Pupa sliding their way towards the Wellfar stone.

As the pair was about to reach out and grab it, the petitioner in front of Cornelian must've seen them in the corner of his eye because he shouted, "Look, my god. Behind you!"

Elias and Pupa froze as Cornelian turned around and caught them square in his gaze.

"What are a crystalwing and a _human of all things_ doing sneaking into my throne room?" demanded Cornelian with a booming voice.

"Well, we got our audience," muttered Elias to Pupa. Louder, he said, "We need to use your Wellfar stone, and we came here to humbly ask your permission!"

The god sighed and said, "You should've waited in line like everyone else. But, since you're here anyways...go ahead."

Elias couldn't believe it was that easy, but no one tried to stop them as the pair went towards the Wellfar stone.

"I hope you know what Vio looks like," Elias said to Pupa. He didn't want to have another situation like in Hell.

"I've seen pictures," said Pupa. "It's not a pretty place, but I think we can get there."

So Pupa held Elias's hand in one and the Wellfar stone in the other, and a blinding light began to shroud them. Too late, Elias remembered how Hecarate was willing to kill Pupa to keep him from Vio. Hopefully things wouldn't turn out as badly as Hecarate must have seen in her vision…

**********

The light cleared away to reveal a scene that Pupa was expecting but was still disappointed by, especially after Lazulia.

As far as the eye could see (which wasn't very far), a dark purplish mist clung to everything. She supposed that they were in a forest, but it was nothing like Crysteria. Here, all the trees were dead and crooked. No leaves sprouted from their gnarly skin, and there certainly weren't any gems adorning them.

Floating around, barely visible, were wraiths. They were the inhabitants of Vio, and Pupa remembered the Elders telling her about them. They never ever left Vio, and they were able to transport other species by turning them into smoke and carrying them along to their god. As far as the god went, the Elders had had no idea. No one had seen the god of Vio in centuries, so Pupa and Elias were going in blind.

The wraiths noticed them for the first time, and they all simultaneously turned towards the pair and started to make their way towards them.

"Here comes the welcoming party," said Elias nervously. "Anything we should expect?"

"They'll turn you into smoke if you're not careful!" replied Pupa. "Run!"

The pair dashed through Vio. Even though there were a ton of dead trees in the way, the ground itself was oddly smooth. No roots or brambles reached up to trip them.

All too soon, though, Pupa ran out of energy and had to stop. Elias, seeing that she wasn't with him, turned back. That was his first mistake.

His second mistake was racing back towards her. Two targets were harder to catch than one! Didn't he know that?

Unfortunately for them, the wraiths _did_ know that. They converged on the pair quickly, their dark, misty hands reaching out to swallow them.

Elias enveloped Pupa in a hug, but she knew that that wouldn't help at all. Sure enough, the wraiths surrounded them and shifted their bodies into ephemeral smoke.

**********

To Elias's surprise, he and Pupa didn't instantly die. Instead, he had transformed into a yellow puff of smoke, and Pupa had turned into a green one.

While he was grateful to be alive, he was less than grateful to be unable to move. Instead, he and Pupa were being transported to by the wraiths. He assumed that they were being taken to the god of Vio, which Pupa hadn't provided any helpful information on before they had been transformed.

He tried to ask her, but found that as smoke, he couldn't say anything. He couldn't breathe either, but felt no need to. He panicked at first when he realized these things, but when he didn't run out of oxygen his panic lessened.

It was a boring 'ride' through Vio. It was all the same, just dead trees and smooth ground. And he wasn't able to talk to Pupa or even move, so his options were very limited. Really, he only had one.

Eventually, Elias, Pupa, and the wraiths had made their way to a clearing, that while it was surrounded by dead trees, had none within it.

In the center of the clearing, a figure was perched on a throne made of what looked to be obsidian. Behind it were cages filled with the different species of Chromatica, including the missing Elders and an octocoe.

The wraiths released Elias and Pupa, and they immediately turned from their ephemeral forms to their normal ones. They both took in deep, gasping breaths, then turned their gazes upwards to the figure on the throne.

To Elias's immense surprise, the figure was a human. He looked to be in his mid-thirties, and he was dressed in a sleek black suit of armor. He wore no helmet, and instead displayed his light purple hair and cruel sneer for all to see.

"I've been waiting for you for a long time, Elias," said the figure triumphantly. "My name is Lightning."

**********

So _this_ was the human that nearly destroyed the world a thousand years ago? Pupa wasn't impressed. For one thing, she thought he'd be taller.

Lightning stepped down from his throne and said, "It's good to see another human. It's been entirely too long."

Now that he was standing up, Pupa noticed that a sword exactly like _Ense Lucis_ was strapped to his back. The only difference was that this sword was an inky purplish black instead of silver.

"How did you know my name?" Elias demanded. Pupa had been curious about that as well. She hadn't thought that the two had ever met.

"Ah, that's thanks to my friend over here," said Lightning, motioning to a cage behind him. In it lay an octocoe, sobbing.

Elias drew his sword and said, "I'm gonna make this real simple. You let the Elders and the rest of the people in the cages free and I won't have to fight you."

Lightning's face twisted into something that looked like pity, but Pupa found it hard to believe that a mass murderer could feel pity towards anyone.

"Oh, Elias," he said condescendingly. "These aren't people. These are merely pawns, animals. Speaking of which, why did you bring your crystalwing pet to such a dangerous place?"

"She's not a pet, damn you!" Elias shouted. "She's my friend, and we've come here to free the Elders. Now let. Them. Go."

Lightning laughed a very evil and sinister laugh. When he was done, he said, "You must know I cannot do that! They're far too useful to let free. For instance"-at this he pointed to a cage containing a lazar-"this creature is the great-great-great-I don't know how many greats-granddaughter of the creator of the Wellfar stones. And it has carried all the secrets of its predecessors, including the Wellfar stones that allow you to travel between worlds."

That was it! All they needed to do was snag one of those and Elias would be able to travel back home!

Judging by his expression, Elias had figured out the same thing. "If you have that, then why not just travel back yourself? In fact, I thought that you were sent home a thousand years ago. How are you even still alive?"

"Why would I ever want to go back to Earth? I was _nothing_ there. And here, I am a god! Something in the air here must prevent me from aging. And remember, a single year here is worth _four_ on Earth! I've been here for centuries and centuries!"

"But alas, while I may not age in body, my mind certainly has. I grow weary of godhood, and you are the perfect candidate to be my replacement."

"Ha! He'd never want to replace someone as evil as you!" said Pupa.

"Oh, the crystalwing is still here. How annoying. I suppose I'll have to dispose of it."

Faster than she could blink, Lightning drew his sword and rushed towards Pupa. She shut her eyes and curled up in a ball.

A loud clang filled the clearing. Pupa opened her eyes to see Elias standing in front of her, _Ense Lucis_ pushed up against Lightning's sword. Elias's eyes widened when he saw the similarities between the swords.

"You like it? This beauty is _Ense Noctis_ ," said Lightning with a sneer. "It used to be the old god of Vio's sword, but I took it on after I killed him. Now I can see where _my_ old sword has gone. Another reason proving that you will make a great replacement."

Elias pushed Lightning away and said, "I'd _never_ replace a genocidal maniac like you!"

He rushed towards Lightning with _Ense Lucis_ shining brightly in his hands. Lightning brought his own sword up and the two began a dance so fast that Pupa could barely tell what was going on.

She wanted to help Elias, but she couldn't figure out a way to do it without getting in his way. Plus, Lightning was _really_ scary.

As the two fought, Pupa looked towards the cages. They were all locked tight, and she couldn't see the key anywhere. Lightning probably had it close to him so that no one else could unlock them.

Pupa turned back to the battle to see the fighters frozen, each struggling to push the other one back. Lightning whispered something into Elias's ear, which caused him to snarl and put on an extra burst of energy. Lightning fell back onto the floor, and Elias held the point of his sword by Lightning's neck.

"So everything that has happened to Pupa, all the shit she's had to go through, is your fault?!" he roared.

"How could he possibly have caused _anything_ that we've gone through?" asked Pupa.

"It's quite simple, little crystalwing," said Lightning from on the ground. "My eight legged friend told me that the only way to get a human to come here was by sending a crystalwing to Earth. So when you were all asleep, one of my wraiths snuck in, cut open a cocoon, and put a world-traveling Wellfar stone into it. Makes me feel a lot better that I hired that librarian to keep watch in case our "chosen one" decided to show up. I see now that _you_ must be that crystalwing. I'll be honest, I expected you to die a lot sooner than this. Here, I'll remedy that.”

Quicker than Pupa or Elias could react, he rolled under _Ense Lucis_ , got up, ran to Pupa, and sliced _Ense Noctis_ through Pupa's throat.

**********

Elias barely had time to blink before it was all over. By the time he did, Lightning was standing over Pupa, blood gushing from her neck. An intense rage filled him. After all that she had had to go through, _this_ was how Lightning wanted to end it?

No. Elias wouldn’t allow it.

He wanted to go over to Pupa and try to stop the bleeding, but _Ense Lucis_ pulled him towards Lightning instead. He realized that the sword was right. He couldn’t tend to Pupa without killing Lightning first.

Before Lightning could react, Elias stabbed forward. The blade sunk clean into his heart, cleaving through the black armor like butter. He dropped _Ense Noctis_ on the ground next to Pupa.

Lightning let out a gasp, then grinned. “You’ve done it. You truly are a worthy successor to Vio’s power. Don’t try to resist, there’s no point.”

With that, he unceremoniously died. Then, a couple things happened at once.

First, the two swords seemed to trade places. _Ense Noctis_ became a shining silver, while _Ense Lucis_ , still being held by Elias, turned the inky purple that Lightning’s sword used to be.

Next, a purplish mist rose off of Lightning and converged onto Elias. He tried to wave around his newly purple sword to dispel it, but it managed to sink itself into Elias until it was all gone.

After the mist had absorbed into him, Elias felt...different. Stronger. And he all of a sudden had an insatiable urge to kill.

A small voice inside his head told him to tend to Pupa before she died of blood loss, but he ignored it. This was _much_ more important.

He glanced towards the cages. Easy prey, and there was even an octocoe in one of them. He had experience killing octocoes.

He readied his blade, and began to hack the terrified creature into little bits.

**********

Pupa's world was very quickly fading around her. She could feel the cut in her neck and somehow instinctively knew that it was deep enough to kill. But dammit, she didn't want to die!

It was as she had these thoughts that she saw Elias step past her. Relieved, she tried to get up, to ask for help.

And then he started hacking at an octocoe in one of the cages.

Pupa stared in horror, blood still pouring from her neck, as he methodically cut the eight-legged humanoid into small pieces.

She didn't know what had come over him (maybe it had something to do with _Ense Lucis_ ), but she knew she had to stop it. Unfortunately, she was too weak to even stand, much less prevent her friend from killing even more.

Then she felt a pull tugging at her from her right side. She glanced over and saw that _Ense Lucis_ was lying there, a few feet away from her. Surprised, she turned to look at Elias and saw that he now wielded _Ense Noctis_.

She extended her arm to the silvery sword, and to her surprise, it _flew_ straight into her outstretched hand.

Instantly the pain in her neck disappeared. She touched it only to find that not a speck of blood remained, and that her wound had entirely healed. Confused, she stood up gingerly.

Elias had finished slicing up the octocoe, and had moved on to a lazar in another cage. But Pupa wouldn't allow him to slaughter any more living beings. She saw now that the Elias that had helped her get back home no longer existed. He had been replaced by this cold-blooded killer, and she had to end this before he could kill any more.

She hefted _Ense Lucis_ up (it was a lot lighter than she expected it to be), and lifted it towards Elias's heart.

Tears streamed down her face, more than she had ever shed before. She didn't _want_ to kill him, she really didn't. But at the same time, she could feel her sword telling her that this was the _only_ way to save him, by ending him.

So streaked with tears, she ran at Elias and plunged _Ense Lucis_ straight towards his heart. At the last second, the sword faltered slightly, and the blade went clean through his stomach instead.

**********

For a moment, Elias couldn't breathe. He had been so content in killing, _killing_ , _KILLING_ , and then he felt a sharp pain in his stomach.

He twisted his head around to see Pupa, tears gushing out of her eyes, holding the sword that now poked through his intestines.

The purple mist that Elias had seen earlier evaporated from his body. Instantly, he felt clarity. He had killed again. And he had _liked_ it, God damn it! He was sick with himself. Pupa had been _right_ to run the blade through him.

And that was his last thought before his consciousness plunged into darkness.

**********

Pupa dropped her sword and sunk to her knees, her eyes blurry with tears.

She had done it. She had actually killed Elias and saved Chromatica. Yet she felt anything but happy.

He was the only one who had ever tolerated her, she realized. The only one who had ever _loved_ her. And now he was gone, forever…

But that wasn't the only thing to worry about. The purplish mist that had turned Elias evil in the first place was now converging on her. She glared at it. _It_ was the reason that Elias had had to die in the first place!

Before it could sink into her as it had Elias, she saw a number of bright flashes in the corner of her eye. She turned to see Borneabelze, Hecarate, Cornelian, and a yellow lizard-like thing that she assumed was the goddess of the Golden Sands.

"It's not too late to save him," said Hecarate, much to Pupa's surprise.

"Why would _you_ want to save him?" demanded Pupa. "You hate him, and anyways...anyways...maybe he doesn't...shouldn't...come back to life."

She let out a sob after that last statement. She didn't want to appear weak in front of the gods, but she couldn't help herself.

"It's true, I hate him," said Hecarate. "But I have looked far into the future, and I know that if I do not save his life now, that mist will converge onto _you_ and turn you just as evil as him. And if you thought a human backed with Vio's power was bad…" She let the sentence hang.

“Let’s just hope he doesn’t come back to fuck everything up like the last one did,” said Borneabelze disdainfully.

“If he does we can just send him back again,” Cornelian said.

The goddess of the Golden Sands (Pupa was too distraught to even _try_ to remember her name) went over to Elias's body and began to hum. Instantly, a yellow light shone through Elias's body. _Ense Noctis_ clattered from his hand and fell to the floor, forgotten. Elias's wound glowed and seemed to stitch itself back together. But he still lay there, unconscious.

"Quickly, we must send him back to his world before he wakes!" said Hecarate to the other gods. Cornelian broke open the cage that contained the Elders just as Elder Chrysalis appeared in another flash of light. The Elders came together and transformed into the goddess Veruda. Then the five gods circled Elias and began chanting in a low voice, too low for Pupa to hear.

She watched as the circle of gods gradually grew brighter and brighter. Hecarate gave her a funny look but she didn't quite understand it.

So this was it. Elias was going back to his homeworld, where he would be safe. She was happy for him, truly, but she would still miss him. If she had to pick a family, between the Elders and Elias, she would choose Elias every time.

Then she realized what Hecarate's look was for. She _could_ choose. There was no one here, in the entirety of Chromatica, that she would truly miss. But she knew that she _would_ miss Elias if she stayed here. But she didn't have to.

Before the spell could be completed, Pupa dove into the circle of light and hugged Elias tight as they were transported to Earth.

**********

The last few months had been crazy. Elias had woken up to see Pupa leaning over him, concerned. He had looked around to see that he lay in his backyard, right where this whole adventure had started. Pupa had explained to him what had happened after he died (or fell unconscious anyways).

Elias had told his mom that after they had done research at the library, they had found out that Pupa's family had died and that she had no one else to go to. It took a few weeks, but eventually Pupa had been adopted into their family, with the name "Patricia" registered. But she still told everyone to call her Pupa, though she never explained why. And of course, she wore Elias's jacket almost all the time, never letting anyone but Elias see her wings.

Next came enrolling Pupa into the local elementary school. It turned out that she was amazing at math, but couldn't read since Chromatica's written language and English were very different. So every night Elias would come to her room (which used to be the guest room) and taught her how to read. After they were done for the day, they would each go to sleep, though more often than not Pupa preferred to sleep in Elias's room instead of her own.

Now the two (and Elias's mom) were seated at the table, finishing up Elias and Pupa's birthday cake. Pupa had been fascinated by the idea of celebrating the exact day that you were born, and she wanted to have a celebration of her own. Since they had no way of knowing which Earth day was her birthday, they just decided to celebrate it with Elias's.

As they ate the last few crumbs of cake left, they heard a thump outside. Elias got up to check it out, and Pupa followed close behind.

Elias opened the backyard door and gasped. Laying before him was an unconscious little boy, around Pupa's age, with a pair of bat wings sprouting from his back.


End file.
